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00:00A few hundred years ago, there was the grand tour of Europe.
00:08Young aristocratic lords and ladies set off across the continent on a cultural rite of passage.
00:15They departed as callow youths, with the aim of returning to Britain refined, stylish, and schooled in the birds and the bees.
00:24I'm Tom Reed Wilson, and at the grand age of almost 40, I'm in need of a transformation.
00:36Oh yeah, if you die, you die.
00:39I'm on the brink of being terribly grown up, so before that happens, I want to flood my senses with adventures of a bygone time.
00:46Who needs yoga when you've got etiquette?
00:48So, with a heart full of wanderlust, an old guidebook...
00:52My trusty Vedica.
00:53...and a suitably vintage lens...
00:55It's the way Catherine Hepburn did it.
00:57...I'm following in the posh footsteps of yesteryear...
01:00...by horse power...
01:01...man power...
01:04...fire power...
01:05Up in a balloon, boys!
01:08...and the occasional modern convenience...
01:11There's Florence!
01:12From gay Paris to Rome, the eternal city.
01:17Will the magic of the grand tour work on me, as it did on the powdered and privileged youth of the past?
01:24My time traveller!
01:25Gosh, yes I am!
01:27So get ready to twirl through the continent.
01:30This is getting rather naughty.
01:32This is my grand tour.
01:35In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, young British nobility left England...
01:54...and set off on a sort of posh gap here.
01:56The grand tour.
01:58Many of them were just like me.
02:01Young, single, care-free and looking for adventure.
02:05So, I'm following in their footsteps.
02:09I've shed a layer or two of Englishness.
02:13So far I've stayed in Paris to study fencing and diplomacy.
02:17Trying not to moan.
02:20That's the hardest part.
02:22And demonstrated my vigour by surviving a perilous crossing of the Alps.
02:27Just as those grand tourists would have done.
02:30I can see the triceps throbbing.
02:32For the travellers of yesteryear, and now for me, it was then on to Italy.
02:38But before jaunting off to Venice, Florence and Rome...
02:41...the grand tourists stopped to recuperate in the foothills of the Alps.
02:46Which is why I've arrived here in Lake Como.
02:53Grazie mille, Flavio.
02:55See you later.
02:56Molto gentile.
02:58I'm staying in the small town of Bellagio, as it was where the first luxury lakeside hotels
03:04were built to receive grand tourists.
03:09There's just time to drop my bags, do a spot of window shopping, and unpack my guidebook.
03:14Oh, and feel Lake Como lap over my size eights.
03:17Now where are you?
03:19Here you are, my trusty Baedeker.
03:21The Baedeker was the guidebook for the later grand tourists.
03:26The Lake of Como is in the estimation of many the most beautiful lake in northern Italy.
03:34Numerous villas of the Milanese aristocracy surrounded by luxuriant gardens and vineyards are scattered along its banks.
03:45It's certainly right about the gardens.
03:47Everywhere you go here, there are flowerpots absolutely stuffed with pansies.
03:53Which the Italians call viola di pensiero, which means the violet of thought, because it was often given at funerals to show that you were thinking about somebody.
04:06And that's where our pansy comes from, pansy, to think about somebody.
04:11This place is wonderfully special, and it was like a magnet for the grand tourists.
04:18They all longed to come here, and of course, rubbed deltoids with each other, right here.
04:24It is suffused with magic.
04:27And the guidebook tells me there is true magic to be found in a villa just across the water from Bellagio.
04:34So, with my vintage Super 8 camera at the ready, it's back on board Flavio's beautiful boat, crossing the lake as so many have before me.
04:45Do you know, I know Cecil Beaton, but I think even I can't take a bad photograph here.
04:53These villas are extraordinary.
04:56And the grand tourists agreed.
04:58One of them, aristocratic writer Lady Morgan in 1821, called Como one of the loveliest scenes ever designed by nature.
05:08The sun glitters on the water and glitters on the windows.
05:12And I wonder if that's why the whole of Hollywood have been drawn here.
05:16The first ever queen of Hollywood, Mary Pickford, came here.
05:20And then Clark Gable became enamoured in the 30s.
05:23All the way to present day with George Clooney, who lives on the lake.
05:28Just pretty dazzling, I have to say.
05:31But the stars of the silver screen don't just come to relax.
05:35Como's villas and views have provided the stage for countless films.
05:39Just as they starred in the canvases and poems of the grand tourists, who marveled at one spot in particular.
05:46Now, this is Villa Balbianello.
05:51And this was built in the 18th century, when the grand tourists were visiting.
06:01This is the only way to approach it, isn't it?
06:07Oh, Flavio. Grazie mille.
06:10Villa Balbianello was built in 1787 by an aristocratic cardinal.
06:18Italian nobles would spend their summers here, often hosting their British counterparts.
06:23I can see why they loved coming.
06:28Ciao, Michela.
06:29Hello.
06:30Oh, how lovely to meet you.
06:33Michela Pini is a guide for the FAI, the Italian equivalent of the National Trust.
06:39What a magnificent place.
06:42Absolutely.
06:43And here is the best place, overlooking the lake.
06:46The best view of Lake Como is right here on this terrace.
06:51It's right.
06:52How could you look at this vista and not be inspired?
06:55Glittering Hollywood people have been here, haven't they?
06:58Absolutely, yes.
07:00We had, in 2002, Star Wars.
07:03Oh, blimey.
07:05And, uh, Casino Royale in 2006.
07:09And didn't that happen just over here?
07:12It happened just right there, exactly here on the ground, sitting on the wheelchair.
07:18I remember.
07:19I remember.
07:20I remember.
07:21My goodness.
07:22But I have a naughty request, actually, because I'm of a slightly literary bent.
07:28So I know Lord Byron stayed here.
07:31And I saw all these wonderful spines of books glistening in the sun.
07:36May we have a look, or is that a private room?
07:39No, for you, it's open, absolutely.
07:41Oh, Michaela, what a treat.
07:43We are going into the library that is full of 4,000 books.
07:53Oh, my.
07:56You know, this reminds me of royal libraries.
08:00Actually, there's a lot of interconnectivity between this part of Lake Como and the British royal family, isn't there?
08:08Yeah, there are quite a lot.
08:10Really?
08:11There are also some rumours about them.
08:13Oh, tell me all of them.
08:15Close to Como town, we have Villa d'Este.
08:18This property was bought by Caroline of Brunswick.
08:24Caroline of Brunswick was unhappily married to George IV, so sought refuge in Como, making quite a splash on the social scene.
08:33She bought the property in 1815 to welcome European aristocracy.
08:39But the rumours were that she was walking naked.
08:43Naked?
08:44Yeah.
08:45Wow.
08:46Across the village streets, she was surrounded by lovers, scandalous parties, but these are just rumours.
08:57Yes.
08:58Well, you might acquire a lover or two if you walk around in your birthday suit.
09:03There certainly seems to be something in the water in Como that brings out the frisky side of royalty.
09:09And then in the same property, Mrs. Simpson and Edward VIII, they met there at one of the first meetings.
09:18When it was all very, very hush-hush.
09:20Yeah, exactly.
09:21And saw someone to inform the photographers.
09:29The royal family weren't the only people trying to hide their secrets on the shores of Como.
09:33There are numerous letters and diaries documenting the tales of grand tourists escaping from scandals at home and abroad.
09:42And this villa was built for speedy getaways.
09:48I show you something that not everybody is allowed to see.
09:52Oh.
09:53I see.
09:54This is the beginning of the secret way.
09:56Oh, I see.
09:57It goes all the way down.
09:59Kayla, I feel so lucky that I'm getting the path less troppled.
10:02It's really exciting.
10:05Gosh.
10:06It's spooky, isn't it?
10:08This is something really special because thanks to the staircase, it's possible to get into the house.
10:14And the end of it was close to the dock.
10:17Someone could take a boat and flee.
10:20Many were fleeing from being rumbled over an illicit affair.
10:23Now, I may not have had any secret dalliances on my grand tour so far.
10:27Nonetheless, it's time for me to make my escape from the glorious tranquility of the lake
10:33and head to the hills where I've set my sights high.
10:37Up in a balloon, boys, up in a balloon.
10:41Corks fly.
10:43Oh.
10:44What a satisfying sound.
10:46And bridges sigh.
10:48I stood in Venice on a bridge of sighs, a palace and a prison on each hand.
11:03I'm following in the footsteps of the legendary grand tourists of yesteryear.
11:13Oh, my.
11:14Experiencing my own coming of age as I near the big 4-0.
11:18Do as you wish, my beloved guests.
11:20What a wonderful way to welcome them.
11:22I'm in Lake Como and my 19th century Baedeker guidebook is full of praise for the local vineyards.
11:28So I'm tearing across the water in a vintage speedboat to see for myself.
11:33It's jolly hard work, this, you know.
11:35Lake Como is shining like a brand new pin today.
11:39And I've fallen a bit in love with it.
11:41Everybody does.
11:42Sorry, I'm a tiny bit late.
12:00No problem at all.
12:02We do three in Italy.
12:04Oh, good.
12:05Oh, I'm thrilled.
12:06Sylvia Travi is the third generation of her family to manage the Sorsasso vineyard.
12:11This region has been producing wine for thousands of years.
12:14When the grand tourists came here, it was very, very old as a winemaking region already.
12:20But I have no idea how old.
12:23We can speak about after Christ, so Roman's period.
12:28Wow.
12:29Plinio il Vecchio.
12:30Plinio the Old, sorry.
12:32Was speaking already about our particular variety that we have here in our white wine,
12:37that is this Verdeza variety.
12:39Plinio the Elder was a celebrated Roman writer famous for his love of wine.
12:44He was born a stone's throw away from George Clooney's villa on Lake Como,
12:48who coincidentally is an avid customer of this very vineyard.
12:52So I simply must try the wine for myself.
12:57Oh, what a satisfying sound.
13:00I like things very, very bubbly.
13:05Cheers.
13:06Cheers.
13:10Mmm.
13:11Now that is the nectar of the gods.
13:17Como has been blessed with an ideal microclimate and the perfect soil for growing its unique grapes,
13:24loved by the Romans, the grand tourists, and now me.
13:27One of the grand tourists who came here, Lord Byron, said of wine,
13:32Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young, and makes weariness forget his toil.
13:43It's a very romantic ending.
13:46And before I came here, I was ever so slightly weary, and you've breathed new life into me.
13:52By all accounts, Lord Byron spent much of his grand tour rather sozzled,
13:57but other travelling aristocrats managed to send hundreds of cases of fine wine back home
14:02to impress their less well-travelled friends.
14:05I, too, may secrete a souvenir bottle in my bag.
14:09Oh, lovely.
14:10May I smell the cork?
14:15Feeling fortified and with my trusty guidebook and Super 8 in hand,
14:19I'm off in search of the ultimate vista of Lake Como by air.
14:24We're about to have wings on our heels.
14:27This is hugely exciting.
14:29Before airplanes, hot air balloons offered wealthy grand tourists a breathtaking adventure.
14:37Our lovely pilota, Raffaele, said,
14:39You must squat and hold tight to the handles.
14:43Now we go.
14:44Oh, Raffaele.
14:48Oh, I say.
14:51I just got a big gust in my gusset through the wicker.
14:59I am kicking about the clouds.
15:05I think I might have been a kestrel in a former life.
15:09Remarkably, it was an English grand tourist, George Biggin,
15:13and an Italian, Vincenzo Lunardi,
15:16who teamed up to stage the very first manned balloon flight in England in 1784.
15:21It became all the rage for the hardier grand tourist.
15:27Up in a balloon, boys, up in a balloon.
15:31All around the hills and towns on our honeymoon.
15:35It's like floating back in time over 200 years.
15:39Thomas, that is Como.
15:42Oh, look at it in all its glory.
15:48Everything is coruscating.
15:50It's amazing how it all picks up the light.
15:52It reminds me of the John Ruskin poem, who, of course, was a grand tourist.
16:04He wrote, in Lago di Como,
16:07there was blue above and blue below,
16:11and the gleam of the eternal snow.
16:16Philosopher, art critic, and social reformer,
16:20John Ruskin was one of the most influential grand tourists.
16:24And his writings inspired legions of others to visit this beautiful lake.
16:37Like Ruskin did nearly 200 years ago,
16:40I must bid farewell to Lake Como.
16:42With the sun setting on this magical, timeless place,
16:45I'm leaving Serenity behind.
16:47Something very jarring to be on the inner balloon.
16:51And hopping on board another vintage vessel,
16:53speeding towards the party town of Venice.
16:57Oh, look at the vista now.
17:15For the grand tourists, Venice was a city of limitless, hedonistic possibility.
17:21Oh, boy. It's wildly romantic.
17:25Where what went on on the grand tour stayed on the grand tour.
17:29It must have been an assault on the retinas of the grand tourists.
17:33And an absolute must-see for them.
17:36Thanks to its geographical position as a gateway for the luxurious goods,
17:40traveling along the Silk Road from Asia,
17:42Venice was the heart of exoticism, wealth, and trade in Europe for centuries.
17:48It's turned my knees to champagne, Andrea.
17:54It really has.
17:58You know, the funny thing about Venice is,
18:00because of Monet's paintings and the glorious summertime with Katharine Hepburn,
18:06I feel almost as though I've been here before.
18:10But in actual fact, I'm a total Venetian Virgin.
18:14And it is dazzling.
18:24It's just like the paintings.
18:26It's extraordinary.
18:28This rigid color palette of dusky roses and primroses and garnets.
18:34And the smell, Oscar Wilde said, my great hero,
18:38it was like going through a sewer in an open coffin.
18:43But I feel like we're gliding in a magnificent bathtub through creme de mons.
18:50As romantic as I am, my nose at least is grateful some things have changed
18:54since the days of the grand tour.
18:56My 17th century hotel, the Duodo Palace, is in the heart of Venice.
19:05And like most rooms in the city, it's a room with a view of, yes, more water.
19:10Just time to unpack my Baedeker guide.
19:14Oh, and my camera.
19:19I can't rely on my frontal lobe to document everything.
19:22I've got to do it with a super aid.
19:25It's the way to do it.
19:26It's the way Katharine Hepburn did it.
19:29And there's just so much to document.
19:31Where are you, Gondolier? I want to land on you.
19:37You're my reference point.
19:43Fingo. It's better than a Pokemon.
19:45Of course, the city, much like Lake Como, is no stranger to cameras.
19:51The sheer number of films set in Venice from Summertime to Don't Look Now to James Bond
19:57make every canal feel familiar and every alley like a movie set,
20:01especially at this time of year.
20:03The Venice Carnival is one of the oldest and most iconic festivals in the world.
20:22For grand tourists seeking an escape from the strict morality of British high society,
20:27it was temptation incarnate.
20:30I have to stop you because your costumes are so magnificent.
20:34I mean, you'll practically marry Antoinette.
20:37The Baedeker says to beware of swindlers at this time of year,
20:40so I need to find my next bear leader or chicharone amongst the revelers
20:44to guide me through the chaos.
20:47Emanuele?
20:48Yeah. Hi Tom.
20:51Nice to meet you.
20:52My chicharone.
20:53Emanuele is a local Venetian guide, so I'm in very safe hands.
20:57Ooh, I'm getting costume inspiration, Emanuele.
21:02Yes.
21:03Carnival is upon us.
21:05The sense of the mask was hiding the identity.
21:07Yes.
21:08So the best was to hide everything behind the mask.
21:10Yes.
21:11So you could gender bend, you could mix up social stratum.
21:14Absolutely.
21:15Absolutely.
21:16You could dis-bosom in every conceivable way and not get into trouble.
21:19Absolutely.
21:20And I'm quite sure that would have been very seductive to the grand tourists.
21:24So let's say that Venice was a city of art, culture, but also vices.
21:28Well, there's also a little bit of nonsense.
21:30My hotel is next door to where the courtesans were.
21:34Yeah, absolutely.
21:35Courtesans in the Renaissance.
21:37There were more than 10,000 when the population was about 120, 130,000.
21:45In the 17th and 18th centuries, sex work was legal in Venice, unlike Britain,
21:50and grand tourists certainly indulged.
21:53My beloved Lord Byron wrote that women kiss better than those in any other nation.
21:58But courtesans were known for much more than their carnal skills.
22:01They were expected to be musical, write poetry, talk knowledgeably about art and culture,
22:07or part of the education, you could say.
22:09The oldest professions.
22:11Yes.
22:12Is that the nickname?
22:13Yes.
22:14How do you say it in Italian?
22:15Piantica professione, si può dire.
22:16Oh.
22:17We can say that.
22:18Sounds wildly romantic for sex work, doesn't it?
22:20Yes.
22:21Romance seems to seep out of every pore of Venice, not least on the water.
22:32Just behind you, you see one of the most iconic building, structure, bridge in Venice,
22:38the famous Bridge of Sighs.
22:42Why it's called Bridge of Sighs is because a friend of you, Lord Byron,
22:46mentioned the Bridge of Sighs in the 1800s for the first time.
22:49You did, I know what he said.
22:51He said, I stood in Venice on a bridge of size, a palace and a prison on each hand.
23:02He got the point, because on one side you have the Duchess Palace, criminals were judged
23:07in the offices there, on the other side prison.
23:10So the bridge was just a connection, so they could see this light, they could see this beauty
23:14for the last time before going to the prison.
23:16Yes.
23:17That's the essence of the name Bridge of Sighs.
23:18Even the prisons in Venice appear architecturally beautiful, and so is one particular inmate,
23:23according to legend.
23:29Casanova, you know him, he was a BAP, he was an important person.
23:32So this year we are celebrating the 300th anniversary of his birthday.
23:35300th.
23:36Consider that he did a sort of small grand tour.
23:39And you know that the grand tour was born just a few years before Casanova, the 1600s.
23:44Giacomo Casanova is perhaps the most famous Venetian of all time.
23:49His life was so scandalous, it landed him in the dictionary as a noun, meaning a man who
23:54is a promiscuous and unscrupulous lover.
23:57Casanova could be my next word of the day.
24:00I read many moons ago Casanova's memoir, and what struck me was this sort of Hungatron as we know him now.
24:09He had chronic nosebleeds, loved witchcraft, was a bit of a con man.
24:13The memories of Casanova are partially true, and they are partially a myth.
24:18Venice is the city of myth.
24:22What is true though, is that Casanova was arrested in 1755 for an affront to religion and common decency.
24:31And imprisoned here, but not for long.
24:34And he was one of, the only one who escaped.
24:37But before taking a gondola, he went to the Café Florian to have a coffee.
24:41The last one before escaping, you know.
24:43I've just got time for an espresso.
24:45Absolutely.
24:46There is always time for a café.
24:48If the coffee at Florian's is good enough for Casanova to risk prison for, then that's clearly where I need to head next.
24:57Oh, my palate's singing.
24:59I also encounter some little birds.
25:02My two pigeons.
25:04And some big ones.
25:05Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew.
25:18I'm blazing a trail through Europe and back in time on what was once an aristocratic rite of passage.
25:27A grand tour.
25:28Oh, this is just amazing.
25:31The Rialto Bridge in picture postcard Venice.
25:36The Rialto is the oldest bridge in Venice, and in the grand tourist day, the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot.
25:44History's everywhere here.
25:47I'm coming here for the history of the grand tourist.
25:51They were coming here for the history of Tintoretto, and Shakespeare mentions this very bridge in The Merchant of Venice.
25:59Shakespeare used the bridge as a meeting place for his characters to catch up on gossip.
26:03And artistically, it was also immortalized by Venetian painter Canaletto.
26:08So for them, it was already a huge cultural draw.
26:12It was already very well represented in art and culture.
26:16And the place to discuss art and culture for the 17th and 18th century grand tourist was the coffee shop.
26:24Café Florian in the heart of Venice, on the edge of St. Mark's Square, is the oldest café in Italy.
26:30Buongiorno, good morning.
26:32Good morning.
26:33How are you?
26:34Nice to meet you.
26:35Mi chiamo Tom.
26:36I'm Roberto.
26:37Nice to meet you.
26:38This is magnificent.
26:40Yeah, yeah.
26:41How old is it?
26:42305 now.
26:43305.
26:44So many of the grand tourists would have seen this.
26:46It's the most easy to say, who don't come to McLaurian Café Ndure H.
26:50But sort of it.
26:51The short list of explaining exactly.
26:53Casanova, Lord Byron and Charles Dickens and many more besides were loyal customers.
27:03Pleased to see and be seen.
27:06The one I always think of, Roberto, coming here, is my favorite film set in Venice, Summertime.
27:12Really, really, it is.
27:13A wonderful movie, yes.
27:15Outside, Katherine Hepburn is sitting alone in Summertime.
27:18And her chair is like this against the table.
27:24And Rossano Brazzi sees it like that and then passes by because he thinks it's a sign he can't sit there.
27:31Good evening.
27:40Her eyes are suddenly awash with tears because she's desperate for him to sit.
27:44Exactly.
27:45I go right back into the movie being here.
27:48Why not?
27:49But before Summertime, it was the grand tourists that flocked here.
27:53And not everyone appreciated their presence.
27:56Englishwoman Lady Mary Montagu lived in Venice in the 18th century and wrote of the grand tourists.
28:02Their whole business abroad is to buy new clothes in which they shine in some obscure coffee house.
28:08Where they're sure of only meeting one another.
28:11I look on them as the greatest blockheads in nature.
28:14Just like today, tourism has its pros and cons.
28:17Reading the Bay Decca about the pigeons dashing about St. Mark's Square just outside as they still are today.
28:24It feels very special to actually live as a grand tourist, witnessing it as they would have done.
28:32You couldn't miss this.
28:34Oh, Roberto.
28:36But today for you I prepare a special coffee we call Café del Doge.
28:42Coffee, chocolate, milk cream and a little bit of nuts on the top.
28:46Oh, my palate's singing.
28:49It's so funny coming here because by the arts, in lots of ways, paintings and film, I've climbed into Venice before.
29:04And here I am sort of expecting it all to become real.
29:09And if anything, it's less so.
29:12I feel like I'm walking through an oil painting that's still wet.
29:15I don't feel like I really am here.
29:18That's part of the magic of Venice.
29:21It doesn't belong to anybody.
29:23You just get to be a character in the oil painting and go away again.
29:27I always think that's as it should be.
29:34I could do this forever and ever.
29:40It's so relaxing.
29:44Jacopo, you're my favorite gondolier.
29:47Jacopo is floating me across town to the Scuola di San Rocco to meet his famous namesake, Jacopo Tintoretto, a Venetian who rose from nothing to paint counts, cardinals and courtesans on his way to the very top of Venetian society.
30:03Oh, Professor Chiari, what is this room?
30:07This is the chapter hall of the Scuola.
30:09Professor Maria Chiari is an expert on Tintoretto's art and there are more of his paintings here than anywhere else in the world.
30:17The Scuola di San Rocco was the wealthiest of all the Venetian Scuole Grandi.
30:29The Scuola Grande of Venice or great schools were and are Catholic societies devoted to charity and the arts. And Tintoretto took full advantage.
30:39Tintoretto made an agreement with Scuola saying that he was to deliver three paintings per year. In exchange, he wanted to be paid 100 ducats per year until his death.
30:55Huh. 100 ducats would be worth about 28,000 pounds today. A handy sum for a man who was the eldest of 21 siblings and was good friends with some of Venice's most famous courtesans.
31:08Tintoretto's deal with the Scuola helped make him one of the rock stars of the Renaissance and his paintings have fetched millions at auction.
31:26The Royal Collection owns eight, one of which hangs in the King's Drawing Room at Windsor Castle. The late great David Bowie had two and was such a fan he named his own record label Tintoretto Music.
31:39Tintoretto has been an important step in the formation of young artists because of his use of light.
31:48So you can see over there. The light comes from the broken roof and hits the Virgin Mary, the baby Christ.
31:58He is for sure the painter who deals with light in the best way ever.
32:05Tintoretto inspired Britain's own master of light, J.M.W. Turner, who visited this very room in 1819 and sketched some of these pictures in his notebook.
32:17Why was he so impactful to the Grand Tourists when they came here?
32:21It was John Ruskin who was responsible. He praised Tintoretto a lot in his letters and he made the new artists have a better attention towards Tintoretto's art.
32:37It's an aspect of the Grand Tour I hadn't considered until now. It wasn't just a one-way street. It was more of a cultural exchange.
32:45Grand Tourists like the English art critic John Ruskin weren't just passive learners. They helped people rediscover their own forgotten treasures.
32:53I invite those who will watch your program to come here and check what you have described to them.
33:03I hope so. You won't regret it. You won't regret it.
33:09Not every Grand Tourist could afford to take a real Tintoretto home with them, but they could buy books full of printed copies.
33:16In the 16th century, half of Europe's book printing shops could be found in Venice. The first printed Koran, the first printed edition of Aristotle, and many more scandalous tomes besides that were banned in countries like Britain.
33:31Oh, Federico, this is an Aladdin's cave. I mean, it's absolutely dazzling.
33:43Oh, thank you that you like it.
33:45The Grand Tourists sent books by the crate load back to Britain to stock their libraries. And some, like the Earl of Burlington, were so inspired by the books on architecture they found in Venice, they built their own versions at home, like Burlington House in London, that now houses the Royal Academy of Arts.
34:03Oh, please ask an Embra, may I?
34:07You feel free, don't worry. You can browse, no problem at all.
34:12Thank you. Oh, some little Grand Tourists.
34:16This is taken from an 80th century book written by Thomas Salmon, who was an English traveler.
34:23Another tom?
34:24Yeah, another tom.
34:26Try it with the lens, you can see the dresses of the people also.
34:31They're emerging from the public library, bettering themselves through literature, just as I'm doing in your shop.
34:39Oh, and look, that's a little slice of kismet, surely.
34:45It's just, it couldn't be more perfect.
34:48Thomas Salmon was an 18th century writer whose histories of the world, partly based on his travels, were bestsellers across Europe, like a 17th century Michael Palin.
34:58I think it's the perfect match. So, Tom belongs to Tom.
35:04Now, is this what I think it is? Because I might have to do a two-pronged purchase if it is.
35:10Okay.
35:12It is, it's a Bedeca.
35:14And every traveler has to travel with a Bedeca.
35:18Because you see, this isn't the end of my tour, Federico.
35:21Oh, okay.
35:22I'm Florence and Rome bound.
35:24Oh!
35:25You got Florence?
35:26Look, I opened it on Rome.
35:28Rome, perfect, yeah.
35:29You know, Federico, you furnished me with exactly what I need.
35:34A little bit for the heart and soul, and a little bit for the grey cells.
35:38Perfectly.
35:39Two pigeons with one seed, we say in Italy.
35:42Oh, we say two birds with one stone, but I much prefer two pigeons with one seed.
35:47Because Venice is full of pigeons, that's why.
35:50My two pigeons.
35:52It might not be enough to fill a crate, and I might not have my own library.
35:57But my grand tour souvenirs will have pride of place on my bookshelf.
36:01But before I leave Venice, like Cinderella, I shall go to the ball.
36:10It's wildly romantic and really quite arousing.
36:20I'm drifting through Venice with my bear leader, Emanuele.
36:32I feel like I could be in the 1750s.
36:35I could be a grand tourist about to bump into the real Casanova.
36:40Oh!
36:45I didn't think that was him.
36:46Everything is allowed during carnival.
36:48Until midnight, everything is allowed.
36:51It's the last day of the famous Venice Carnival.
36:54The final chance to let my hair down.
36:56And Emanuele has secured me an invite to an exclusive ball.
37:00The only problem is I haven't a stitch to wear.
37:03Everything looks amazing with Venice on the background.
37:05Yeah.
37:06You could wear whatever you want, but the background is always, you know, the best.
37:18And you like it all because the little things that are here.
37:22I can't see you.
37:24Hi Tom.
37:25Hi Tom.
37:27Hi Angela.
37:28Hi Angela.
37:29Hi Angela.
37:30Lovely to meet you.
37:31Hi Consuelo, pleased to meet you.
37:32Lovely to meet you.
37:34Angela and Consuela have been clothing Venetians and tourists in the finest carnival costumes for years.
37:41Look at that brocade
37:43This is amazing. Oh, I say
37:47Even if for you it's a little bit too big what a keen eye sometimes I do like
37:53Okay
37:55squeeze the deltoid
37:59Now one of the things I love about this is this sort of evokes Casanova to me and I know that the theme this year is
38:06Casanova you want to feel like as an I would love Angela to feel just a try and then to escape
38:14Like he did in ancient time you probably don't sense it, but I am slightly naughty
38:20Yeah, there's an anthracite twinkle in my eye that some people can bring out
38:27Venetians closely guarded the secrets of silk making they'd learned trading with the Far East as such their velvets
38:34Brocades and laces were some of the most luxurious in Europe even some of Queen Elizabeth the first finest garments were made in Venice
38:42I feel since I've been here. I've been plunged into a fairy tale
38:46I think that's what the grand tourists must have loved because they could escape their day-to-day life and be a character for a
38:54That's it. It's magical. It is magical. I feel like
39:00And this Berkshire pumpkins transformation is nearly complete
39:08Well, what do you think of 18th century sartorial wizardry am I ready for a ball?
39:15In the grand tourist day they were in the region of 10,000 gondolas in the city
39:23I'm lucky to have got on board one of only about 400 today. I could find a paramour of any kind tonight
39:31Any kind
39:33Allora, buona fortuna
39:41My handsome chicharone Emanuele has sweetly agreed to be my chaperone
39:48Here you see balls now, but in the past you have to imagine people gambling consider that in the casino
39:54It was mandatory to use the mask. So I'm against the rules now, but we are in a special ball
39:58You buck every trend Emanuele
40:00Yes
40:01In the past balls like these known as Eve Festini were open to anyone wearing a mask
40:07The locations were marked by a lantern with garlanded flowers
40:11At the end the hosts would collect payment from their guests
40:15Nothing is free in the city of merchants
40:17We're about to receive a number which apparently is crucial
40:21Second
40:22So I
40:23First
40:24Second
40:25Including dancing lessons
40:27We have two hands
40:28Oh, sorry
40:29Just right
40:30Okay
40:31Learning to dance courtly dances was vital for any young noble
40:36Eight steps around
40:38One
40:39Two
40:40Three
40:41Four
40:42Five
40:43Six
40:44Seven
40:45Eight
40:46Consequently, instruction like this was an important part of most grand tourists' travels
40:52Six
41:07Eight
41:09One
41:10Three
41:11Nine
41:13Five
41:15Nine
41:17I've broken a slightly baroque sweat doing that.
41:24There's something about the minuetto in particular,
41:27which I know that grand tourists dance,
41:30that is so intimate.
41:32It's that sort of thing of being very, very proximate
41:35and then very, very far, like a piece of old knicker elastic,
41:38pinging backwards and forwards.
41:40And it's wildly romantic and really quite arousing.
41:44This kind of freestyle in the air,
41:47sometimes all it takes is one look
41:49and you've lost the person you came with.
41:53It's not hyperbolic to say that Venetian carnival
41:57is another world that you're plunged into.
42:00You're sort of dunking it until you're absolutely saturated.
42:07And that must have been so liberating for a grand tourist
42:10who lived in a world of propriety
42:13and dignity and starched collars.
42:18I have really let my hair down
42:20and I've kicked up my heels
42:22and I want to continue to do so
42:24until the shank of the evening.
42:26I think there's no other way, frankly.
42:28At the break of dawn, my grand tour will venture south.
42:37There's Florence!
42:40Where Medici masterpieces...
42:42He takes my breath away.
42:45This is my very first visit to Rome.
42:48And the romance of Rome...
42:50Complete my own renaissance.
43:01I will treasure this trip for the rest of my life.
43:05It has transfigured me.
43:08And you can see that next Friday at 8.
43:12From royalty to a fight for relevance.
43:15Has her ambition soured her fairy tale?
43:17Megan Part 2 is brand new tomorrow at a quarter to nine.
43:21On the other side of the world,
43:23yet she's managed to find a good cup of tea.
43:25Jane McDonald from Pole to Pole continues brand new next.
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